A week later, Lady Selen was thoroughly vetted and dined. And already gained a spot on the 33 women per day roll.

I thought I was an expert on STCs, but Selen had seen even more fragments and flawed STC copies than I had. Which was quite an achievement in itself.

We went through all the STCs I had, and she got to pick which ones to send to the Imperium.

"These cloneskeins will not work for the wider Imperium, my Lord. Too many abuse possibilities. And if the Chaos gets them, or some genestealers...." she said with a sad voice.

I nodded in acceptance. The Emperor did have my initial cloneskein finds, from before Valerian unlocked the real Demiurg dastabase. They would still make a normal human twice as strong and durable, and amplify the Primaris clones by a large degree. The latest model could amplify someone to three to five times in strength, and if applied to a Catachan descendant they would become Space Marines in all by gene-seed.

"Using Blanks is much safer too." I said with a smile.

I immediately thought of Sly Marbo and grinned inward. A small cloning test, say 10000 of them? Give them armor suits? It would only take several hours with my accelerated time field.

A dozen of Apothecaries and a hundred Tech-Marines were already moved inside the tesseract, to study as much as possible from the Primaris and Culexus databases, and also the Demiurg tech. I will need a lot of well-prepared experts to oversee the cloning procedure, as well as produce advanced equipment for my troops, generally of Demiurg kind if I didn't had anything better.

Luckily, for melee combat we could rely on the C'tan Phase blades, since those things would cut through any armor or shield known to man.

The Demiurg also had plasma blades and impact hammers and other melee stuff, but those were millions of years behind C'tan tech.

"There is a Forge Mezoa delegation here, my Lord. They also have the Astareus STC, if you want flying tanks." Lady Selen proposed as she rested on my chest.

"And from Forge Goth as well. They seem to want something from me." I answered with a sigh. How did I become the great provider for a whole bunch of Forges?

"You could also...simply take what you want. They will be powerless to stop you." Selen proposed with a lazy voice.

"Even if I have the power to act monstrous, it doesn't mean I have to do it. On the contrary." I answered with a lamenting tone.

Truly, people here had no idea of restraint or responsibility. Governors oppressed their people, Rogue Traders robbed everyone blind, Astartes butchered innocents by the millions...and less said about Inquisitors or Tech-priests the better.

Sometimes I felt powerful people were simply competing to be the cruelest or least humane.

Maybe it was the Imperial culture, or the Warp influence whispering evil thoughts in their minds. Maybe it has always been this way, as humanity didn't lack cruel rulers in its history.

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And maybe I was becoming just like that, slowly but surely.

I did my fair share of massacres and purging, although I tried to punish the alien or the corrupt as my priority.

With a grimace, I locked on those stupid Apothecaries nailed in my Hall of Remembrance and flung them into the Sun. It had been 1000 years already, for me. They could burn now.

Also, it was possibly drawing some Warpy stuff onto my Chapter. It wasn't safe to keep any Chaos corruption that close.

'Brother Helios, go change the Hall with battle records and glorious stuff. I don't think we'll have more traitors among the Chapter.' I sent on the Sanguinary Priest's implant, as to assure him this was my work and not an escape.

'As you say, Chapter Master! We do have many glorious battles for our Brothers to remember.' the old Chaplain replied in a minute.

What was left of the old Lamenters was still valuable, for their old service and knowledge. Half of them would leave soon, as the Mourners were getting prepared at accelerated speed.

Next, the Sisters of Battle. My version, not the crazy Imperials.

As more of my own daughters and grand daughters joined their ranks, the Sisters became ever more professional in combat or medicine, while the influx of Catachan descendants made them stronger and more durable.

They could use a boost from the cloneskeins as well. Would the Emperor's Light still flow through a clone? I could bet it would. He was the Emperor of Man, and that would protect clones as well, if they had Faith.

There was Stern's young daughter as well, named simply Purity. A strange mix of all my gifts and hers, but toned down so low you could barely feel it. And still, the Eldar Solitaire had claimed Purity as Godfather, which possibly meant a lot of things. High tier Eldar could sense the flow of Fate, and often meddled where events or people would concentrate in a fixed spot in the skein of Fate.

Ephrael Stern herself has died a few times, and swam back through the Black River and back to life, while her Demonifuge powers only kept growing. Even Isha seemed impressed with her.

I could play a trick of my own with the Harlequin, and clone Purity some 40000 times. Any Godfather would have to act responsible and care for his ward, right?

Purity's Blankness may be weak right now, but she would grow, while the clones would be 5 times stronger. A whole army of potential Grimnyr as well, as I planned to copy and distribute more Demiurg cogitators to my every world and capital ship. And if I could tie the cogitators with quantum comms, they will form the basis for a unified domain, here in the Fringe.

'Speranza, can you copy the Demiurg cogitator?' I asked on a whim.

'Not easily, Pef Lancefire. And what about me? What are you planning to use me for?' Speranza asked a bit wary.

'You will be their leader, of course. Once you're tied with quantum comms with thousands of them, on every world and ship in my lands.' I proposed with a hopeful voice.

'...' the ancient Machine Spirit delayed its response for an hour. 'It is possible, with great effort. We will make a lot of enemies with this, Pef Lancefire.'

I sighed inward. As expected, even the powerful Speranza was wary. Possibly more than I knew.

'We still need to do it, my friend. There is a giant war coming, and we're not prepared. Maybe we can survive together.' I pleaded in a mourning tone. Even with the network, there was a mere chance.

'There is still hope, young man! But, no more of your silly plans and reckless actions. You will consult me before endangering our safety.' Speranza demanded a bit forceful.

'There will always be battle conditions, Speranza. And I also never lost a war. Have some faith in me.'

I claimed a bit more confident.

'You have amazing luck, but nothing lasts forever. Together, we do have a small chance.' the old machine spirit countered with a dour tone.

Ah, a small chance in hell. I will take it then. Maybe a smarter person would have thought thrice. But I wasn't that smart.